In-depth look at Fish and Game

"I didn't realize how unhappy I was until I got in this job, and I have had a lot of cool jobs," said California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Warden Patrick Freeling. "What I wanted to be doing was creeping around in the bushes or in a field getting the bad guys, and I found that."

Freeling has worn many career hats in his lifetime: A State Parks ranger, police officer, scuba dive instructor in Santa Barbara, Thailand and the Cayman Islands. He worked on a natural history boat in Alaska, and owned a company making furniture for dogs, as well.

"Most of us signed up for this job over becoming a CHP deputy, or a cop, or a park ranger, because we care about the resource," he said. "We are directly tied to our jobs."

Freeling has been a DFG warden for five years.

"I wish that I had signed on 15 to 20 years ago," he added. "Granted I had a lot of incredible experiences, but for me this is the best fit. I care about my job, I care about the abalone, and I care about the fish."

He said one of the unique aspects of his job is the ability to decide his own hours.

"If I feel the activity is going to be happening from 6 a.m. until noon, then I work from 6 a.m. to noon, then maybe do two hours in the evening."

"If someone calls me at two o'clock in the morning and says there is a truck in my corn field and they are spot lighting deer, I will try to respond to that call we all will," he added "We are all really into what we are doing; I think that is the greatest thing."

Essentially, he is on call 24/7.

Wardens are spread thin 392 wardens patrol and protect 159,000 square miles of California. On the Mendocino Coast, there are four.

Since there are so few wardens, Freeling said they rarely have a partner or back-up.

But Freeling is unique and has a partner he is the only warden on the Coast who does; she is a yellow lab mix named Cali.

Cali was adopted from an animal shelter in Lake County by DFG. Cali is a detection dog, trained to sniff out abalone, deer, bears, fire arms and quagga mussels.

Freeling said some dogs are trained to be "dual-purpose" dogs both detection and police work such as bite and hold others are trained to be one or the other.

Cali and Freeling have worked together for nearly a year and a-half; she lives with him and his family.

"I thought Cali was possibly a little high strung for me; I wanted a mellower dog," said Freeling about when he first met her. "So I told [the DFG trainer] I would try [working with Cali] for a couple of days. When I got her in the house, she became this quiet, sweet angel of a dog and when she gets out in the field, she is a machine.

"I would say she is one of the top three dogs for detection in the state, but I might be partial."

The relationship

DFG has many biologists monitoring different aspects of California's resources. From forest to ocean the biologists work with commercial entities, such as lumber companies and fishermen.

"The biologists collect the data, write the analysis and reports, then they give it to the Fish and Game Commission and the reports might say, "We need to reduce the salmon season from six to three months, so we don't over fish the fisheries,'" explained Dennis McKiver, Lieutenant Supervisor of DFG. "Then the commission takes that under advisement and they enact the laws, then it goes back to us in enforcement and we enforce the laws."

The Fish and Game Commission is not part of the Department of Fish and Game; it is a group politically appointed by the governor to write laws for DFG.

"There are some DFG laws that we change regularly," said McKiver. "Every year we change when the salmon season is going to open and when it is going to close, or we may change the limit, whether it is size limit or the number of salmon you can take."

He said because of constant changes, having a legislative body write only laws specific to DFG helps streamline the process.

Sport fishermen are important to DFG and especially the biologists who collect important data as they fish.

"The sport season starts early so they [the biologists] can collect fish heads," explained Dennis McKiver, Lieutenant Supervisor of DFG. "Depending on how the sports fishing goes, it will give the biologists an idea of how the commercial fishing will go.

"The commercial fishery season may change depending on what the sport fisherman are catching.

Challenges

DFG wardens must be self-sufficient and rely on keeping themselves safe, because help or back-up is sometimes a long way off.

"We very rarely have radio contact," said Freeling. "A lot of places out on the Coast are not such a problem, but most of the time we are out in the woods, or we are in places where we don't have radio contact. As a police officer, if I made a stop and contacted a guy who was doing something, I would have radio. I would also have two or three officers backing me up within 10 to 15 minutes. Here I have no one."

He said occasionally, if he is in an area where other patrol cars pass by, he will have a CHP deputy stop by, but since the other law enforcement departments are spread thin as well, it doesn't happen often.

Lt. McKiver said another challenge for the department is filling positions. DFG wardens are required to be over 21 and have at least two years of college.

Along with the requirements, DFG wardens are paid 40 percent less than CHP deputies, and the job is for individuals who are comfortable being without radio or cell signal, and working alone most of the time.

"Game wardens are out there working at night by themselves," said McKiver. "Most cops won't do that.

"Our guys are out there by themselves at night. If you have a situation and you call for backup, your nearest backup might be an hour away, if he can find you, or he doesn't have a four-wheel drive to get to where you are.

"Another challenge is a warden could drive out somewhere and get their truck stuck. It's not like you can call a tow truck out there the tow truck can't get to where you are. So you have to be ingenious enough to dig yourself out and get yourself going again."

McKiver said his biggest challenge is finding people who want to be a warden on the Mendocino Coast; each recruit he has found has moved on to the city instead of staying on the Coast.

"Kids have changed," he said. "When I came on 25 years ago, it was like this was the dream job. You had to work 15 years before you could get an opening to come to a rural area. Now we can't get kids to go to rural areas. They say, "What do you mean I can't get cell phone coverage or get Internet service at my house?'"

McKiver added not having radio signals everywhere is another large deterrent.

"Radio connection is a big challenge here. We have a lot of dead air areas where we can't talk to anybody on our radios, or on our phones, so we have to find people who can work independently and not be freaked out about the fact that they don't have communication.

"We look for people like me; I had experience as a State Parks wilderness ranger. I would hike for 10 days out in the wilderness and not have communication with anybody for those 10 days.

He said it is a challenge to find someone who doesn't get "freaked-out" about not having communication because kids are not growing up used to hiking in the woods for long periods of time, or if they are, they are not used to doing it without radio or cell phones available.

Search authority

DFG wardens have statewide peace officer powers, but they also have a unique power that the other peace officers do not the search authority.

DFG code 10-06 gives wardens the authority to search containers that could hide fish or game without probable cause.

"Say I was a regular cop, and I said, "What do you have in the cooler?' and he says, "None of your business,'" explained Freeling. "Then I ask, "Mind if I take a look in that cooler?' And he says, "Pound sand, I don't want you looking in that cooler,' there is nothing a cop can do about it, unless he has probable cause to believe there is something going on in that cooler and he can articulate it.

"We [DFG Wardens] have the right, with the search authority, to go into that cooler, or in any receptacle that could contain fish or game. And it is one of those fine lines that gets challenged all the time, but we have to have that."

Under section 1006, from Chapter 3: Article 1, in the California Fish and Game Code, the department is given search authority that other law enforcement officers do not have.

It states:

"The department may inspect the following: (a) All boats, markets, stores and other buildings, except dwellings, and all receptacles, except the clothing actually worn by a person at the time of inspection, where birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or amphibians may be stored, placed, or held for sale or storage.

"(b) All boxes and packages containing birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or amphibians which are held for transportation by any common carrier."

"If we didn't have that, we couldn't do our job," said Freeling. "And you have to tread that fine line between doing our job, to invading someone's fourth amendment rights."